


troubled thoughts and the self esteem to match

by ivelostmyspectacles



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers except... more Fuck Buddies with Complicated Motives, M/M, Sexual Tension, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 08:38:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15311655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/ivelostmyspectacles
Summary: In his continued efforts to rebel against the Astrals, Ardyn joins forces with Noct and the gang to break down the prophecy and stop it from happening. While he doesn't much care about theChosen King'sfate, revenge is hard won, and they're his best chance at spurning the gods.Ignis– sophisticated,intelligentIgnis– catches his interest along the way.aka Ardyn joins the party, Ignis intrigues him, Ardyn intrigues Ignis, chemistry is there and the rest, they say with a varying amount of cringing, is history





	troubled thoughts and the self esteem to match

**Author's Note:**

  * For [harpylatte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/harpylatte/gifts).



“Tell me why we should trust you.”

“Because if you don’t… your beloved Noctis dies by those selfsame gods’ hands.”

The four of them looked to the prince.

Silence fell.

Ardyn smiled.

  
  


Ignis was well aware of Chancellor Izunia’s close ties with Insomnia since he had first been accepted into the Citadel with Noctis as his charge. He hadn’t been old enough at the time, but the chancellor had come and gone– King Regis was frequently seen in company of him, both stoic in the face of the other. Ignis had always gotten the feeling that something _important_ was going on. He hadn’t learned under much later that the chancellor was working directly with the king to break down the prophecy that both he and Noct had heard about so much since they had been children.

A lifetime ago, really.

Interesting how so many years later, it was still Ardyn’s desire to see said prophecy dissolved. A commonality between the four of them; Regis had secrets Ignis suspected that they were not told regarding the prophecy, and Noct had no desire to even become _king_ at this point in his life. And Ignis himself had watched the strain of being king and the power of the Crystal slowly drain away at the current king’s health; he didn’t want that for Noctis, his ascension nonwithstanding. A world without Noct was simply not fathomable. And Ardyn… well, he didn’t know _what_ Ardyn wanted.

Somehow, he assumed that his motivations for working with Insomnia were less for protecting the prince than they were for his own devices, but Ignis wasn’t privy to that information. In the end, it didn’t matter; they went their ways, and Ardyn went his.

Until they didn’t.

“Work with that guy?” Gladiolus blurted, and Ignis shot him a quick look. “Er–” Gladio cleared his throat, and continued. “I apologize, Your Majesty, but what could he possibly tell us that he hasn’t told you already?”

“There is much that we do not know,” Regis said evenly. The outburst from Gladio went without notice. “For one, we’ve both decided that visiting the royal tombs may shine more knowledge on the unknown. That is where you three come in.”

“No offense, but isn’t that Kingsglaive’s duty?”

_“Gladiolus.”_

Regis held up a hand to Clarus. “Traditionally, I would send them. But I wish you to take my son–”

Ignis startled, looking up at Noct. He was staring studiously off into the distance, stock still on the dias.

“– and I trust only you three to guide him.”

“… oh.”

Prompto fidgeted, and Gladio seemed to be thinking.

Ignis took a step forward, clenching a fist over his heart. “We are at your disposal, Your Majesty.” He hesitated only a moment, then. “… Chancellor,” he continued, and bowed slightly to Ardyn.

Ardyn looked at him thoughtfully, perhaps. Ignis didn’t voice an inquiry, but Ardyn smiled pleasantly, anyway. “Thank you, Ignis! Prompto, Gladiolus. And feel free to call me Ardyn! I have a feeling we’re going to become the _best_ of friends.” He rest a hand on Noctis’s shoulder, and Ignis pursed his lips as the prince tensed. “Right, Noct?”

 

“I don’t trust him.”

“He’s _helping_ us, though.”

“Is he?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s not helping _me…_ ”

“I can _hear_ you, you three,” Ardyn called. “Goodness, it’s like Ignis is the only one who likes me.” He fell into step next to him, and Ignis spared him a brief glance.

“No, he’s just polite enough to give a shit if you hear us.”

The chancellor gasped at the insinuation, turning amber eyes on Ignis. “No! Say it isn’t so!”

A tight smile, stepping forward to block Ardyn’s line of sight from Noctis. “The world may never know, chancellor.”

 _“Ardyn,_ truly. You make me feel like the odd man out.”

“You _are,”_ the other three said all at once.

Privately, he agreed.

 

It was instinct more than anything that propelled him in front of Noct, the king’s borrowed power crackling at his fingertips. He trusted Ardyn less than he let on, and when the chancellor made a too quick movement towards their prince, Ignis’s reflexes kicked in. So did Gladio’s, and Prompto raised his head from where he was sitting a few feet away.

“Watch it,” Gladio warned.

“I’m not going to hurt your prince,” Ardyn said, dropping his hand. “You’re all so jumpy. Such loyal subjects, though! Your dedication nearly brings a tear to my eyes. If only _I_ had been afforded such a thing.”

Gladio snorted softly. “Yeah, right.” He turned back to the campfire. “Why don’t you help out instead of standing there.”

“Oh, of course! I am at your disposal, Gladiolus.”

Certain though he was that the chancellor wouldn’t try anything just _then_ , Ignis couldn’t quite let his guard down. And that, it seemed, wasn’t as subtle at he had hoped.

“I’m really not going to hurt your prince,” Ardyn said later, when it was the two of them left awake.

He glanced up from studying their budget. “Hm?” he asked, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Oh, that. Forgive me, chancellor, it’s just… a new experience, this.” A truth wrapped in a lie. “Seems I’m a bit nervous.”

“You needn’t be,” Ardyn said, resting his head on his hands. “I’m not going to jump you all when your back is turned.”

“Of course not.”

“And yet, you aren’t comfortable enough to leave me be the last one awake,” Ardyn said lightly, and Ignis internally cursed. He was being transparent. “Don’t worry! I understand!” He clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Just remember that we’re working towards a common goal, Ignis.”

Ignis glanced at his hand, and then tracked Ardyn’s movement as he stood. “Of course, chancellor.”

 _“Ardyn,_ Ignis, please.”

“Ardyn,” he repeated.

 

“But– but we can’t go against the _gods!”_ Prompto protested. “They’re the _gods!_ Wouldn’t that be, like, bad??”

“It is because of the gods that we are where we are,” Ardyn explained, and Ignis noted quietly how very serious the chancellor had suddenly become. “The gods have prophesied that Noct must be the one to return the light to the world–”

“But the world _needs_ light, so why is that a bad thing??”

“Trust me, it _is_ bad.”

“Why should we trust you?” Gladio interrupted. “You still haven’t told us _your_ goal, and it damn well isn’t protecting Noctis. So tell me why we should trust you.”

“Because if you don’t,” Ardyn said bitingly, and looked across the table at Noct, “your beloved Noctis dies by those selfsame gods’ hands.”

Ignis’s breath caught in his throat. Noct had froze, plucking another book from the pile.

Ardyn beamed. “Oh my. Daddy dearest didn’t mention that?”

“What?!”

“ _‘A power greater than even that of the Six, purifying all by the Light of the Crystal and the glaives of rulers past. Only at the throne can the Chosen receive it, and only at the cost of a life: his own.’_ ”

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t look away from Noctis, and he couldn’t stop Ardyn’s voice reaching his ears.

“ _‘The King of Kings shall be granted the power to banish the darkness, but the blood price must be paid. Many sacrificed all for the King, so must the King sacrifice himself for all.’_ That’s the prophecy.”

Silence.

Could that _truly_ be the secret Regis had been keeping them? It certainly explained why he had been working with the _Chancellor of Niflheim_ this whole time.

Noctis’s chair skidded back from the table. He was out the door before Ignis could open his mouth.

“Noct!”

“Prompto–”

The other two went after him. Ignis stayed, if only to control the tremor in his hands and find the words to reassure before he could try to console him. He took a breath, and then another, and looked at Ardyn.

He was still smiling, albeit a little wry now.

Ignis lifted his chin. “… what do we do?”

 

“Perhaps it’s possible to forge the covenants with… certain loopholes to avoid this prophecy.”

Ardyn looked up in surprise. “Trick the gods? Ignis, I never expected it from you.”

He flashed him a look in annoyance, continuing to make notes from his copy of Cosmogony. “It’s merely a thought.” His pen paused. “… probably not a very good one,” he admitted. This was… frustrating, to say the least.

“If we could manipulate them into doing our bidding, that would make me absolutely _giddy_.”

“Yes…” He narrowed his eyes, head tilting towards Ardyn. “I doubt you have much lost love for Insomnia and our king, but you do hold some grudge towards the gods themselves. Care to share?”

“Oh, is it honesty hour? I must have missed the memo.”

“Ardyn,” he chastised.

“They wronged me, Ignis.” Ardyn leaned back, face impassive. “That’s all you need to know.”

“And I’m to guess it wasn’t by ruining your sixth birthday or such.”

A quirk of lips. “Oh, they ruined _everything,_ ” Ardyn said, and his voice was pitched low.

Ignis shivered, and curiosity prickled beneath his skin.

He said nothing.

 

A potion was pressed into his hand.

He tried to protest, but Ardyn cut him off. “ _Take_ it, Ignis, for goodness sake. I can’t have you dying on me here. My best chance is with you.”

He was more injured than he’d thought, perhaps.

“ _Noct’s_ best chance is with you,” Ardyn clarified. “It’s imperative we end this prophecy, of course, and he needs you. Drink the potion!” he ordered, and slipped back into battle.

Ignis stifled a groan, pained, and drank the potion.

 

There was news that Lady Lunafreya’s healing efforts had been growing in strength. The very thought that the Oracle could use her powers to cure the Usurper of the Starscourge, thus negating Noctis’s need to sacrifice himself to banish it, was nearly overwhelming.

Even Ardyn seemed in a genuinely good mood. Or perhaps it was the champagne the five of them had decided to celebrate with, compliments of the hotel suite when they found who was staying with them. Ignis reckoned they deserved the victory, even if it was slightly premature.

He couldn’t mind, even when Prompto and Noct fell asleep first, and Gladio went in search of distinctly female company, and Ardyn and Ignis were the last two, as per usual.

“We may accomplish this yet,” Ardyn said thoughtfully, swirling the champagne in his glass.

Ignis watched the liquid, and then watched Ardyn take a drink. His head was pleasantly buzzing. His body was comfortably distant. “Yes,” he agreed. He was only slightly tipsy. Not enough to not have conversation. “The covenants seem to be taking, even with our… stipulations.”

“Our _lies,_ ” Ardyn corrected, and seemed to _beam_ at the mere mention.

“Yes… although I’m still not keen on the idea of _lying_ to the gods,” he muttered, but that was more something he had been taught than anything else. The gods were good and just. But then they had discovered that they weren’t.

“Fuck them,” Ardyn said dismissively.

Ignis was decidedly _not_ thinking about the gods then, a slow shudder crawling up his spine. There was a thought, _terrible_ and fleeting, but for a moment there. His cheeks warmed, and Ardyn flashed him a knowing smile.

“Ooor perhaps…”

“No,” he interrupted, and put down his glass. He didn't think he wanted to know what he was about to suggest.  “That’s enough for tonight, I think.”

The chancellor only shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “Oh, very well. I’ll play by your rules, Ignis. Have a nice night.”

He did not, plagued with dreams and the beginnings of a hangover.

 

“You are delightfully inexperienced.”

Ignis ground his teeth, embarrassment flaring up in irritation as he pulled away. “Forgive me, I’ve not had the time to practice _kissing.”_

“It’s endearing, Specs.”

“Maybe not that, just now.”

“Endearing, or ‘Specs’?”

“Both.”

Ardyn tapped a finger to his chin. “Cute?” he asked. He was always so irritating and  _goading._

“We don’t have the time _,_ _chancellor_ ,” Ignis retorted, and returned to kissing him with the same kind of muted annoyance and attraction he knew he _ought not_ to feel. And yet, and yet…

A common goal, a common thread.

Ardyn tangled his fingers into his hair.

 

The Astrals would surely damn him, if they hadn’t put that on their docket already. He was already doomed. As for Ardyn, well, he still couldn’t say.

The man was a bloody good shag, though. As if Ignis had anything else to go by.

“You needn’t make this all so formal, Ignis,” he said lazily, from where he was still sprawled out in the bed. “Do feel free to ask for what you want next time. I’m quite capable to give you _whatever_ you desire.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” he muttered, stepping back into his trousers. “Although I’m sure you know that even _I_ don’t know what I wanted,” he said, quieter.

“I can be anything you want me to be.” Ardyn yawned. “Anyone, even.” He looked positively sinful, tangled in the blankets like that. Ignis couldn’t let his eyes linger. “Even your prince.”

He nearly broke his glasses, the shock washing through him. It tasted like poison, something deadly and dangerous. “I’m not–” His voice was strangled. He couldn’t get out the words.

“Please, why _else_ would you be so blindingly loyal?” Ardyn retaliated. He stretched, and tilted his head to rest on an exposed arm. “I’ve seen the way you look at him, but you think it’ll never be.” He paused, and the same, slow smile crept across his face. “If you’d like, I’ll allow you to call me ‘Your Majesty.’”

Standing with his mouth gaping open wouldn’t accomplish anything, and he would never be able to fluster him. He couldn’t hope to try. So he took his shirt up from where Ardyn had earlier tossed it to the floor, took the tattered remains of his pride and his unrequited, _long_ buried feelings about the prince of Lucis, and turned an impassive look on Ardyn. “Oh, Your _Majesty,”_ he said, in the most driest of tones he could muster.

He didn’t see him move, but suddenly Ardyn was _there;_ Ignis’s back was pressed hard into the wall and the chancellor was kissing him with abandon previously gone unexplored. His shirt fell back to the floor. Ignis groaned and kissed him back, until he was out of breath and half hard, until he could force out “enough” in a tone that conveyed the meaning.

Ardyn went, fingers falling one by one away from Ignis’s throat. Ignis blotted at a speck of blood on his own lip, a bite he knew he wouldn’t be able to explain away so easily. And speaking of those kinds of things… the chancellor had an inexplicable look on his face as he pulled away. Not sly, even, not the look of the cat who had gotten the cream, merely… well, Ignis wasn’t certain.

He also wasn’t certain he wanted to know.

“I could have been your king, Ignis,” Ardyn said shortly, and turned back to gather his clothing. “In more ways than you could know.”

 

“Even if all else fails, we will stop the prophecy yet.”

Ardyn was in a contemplative mood, quiet, even, as he watched the flickering of the fire. Ignis wasn’t certain what caused it, another covenant forged or their impending travel to Altissia to unite with Lady Lunafreya. Maybe neither. It was, as ever, impossible to tell with the Chancellor of Niflheim, and Ignis was the person who knew him the best. He thought he did, anyway.

Ardyn glanced up, the shadows of something darker flickering across his face. It was there for only a moment and then gone; the smile returned, if slightly less guarded. “Oh?”

“We have the Hydraean next.” He felt compelled to try and convince him, for some reason. “The Tidemother’s unpredictability chances to be a boon for our cause, and we have yet to meet the Glacian and Infernian as well. All three could prove useful. _Will_ prove useful, in some regard.”

“Yes…” Ardyn said thoughtfully. A moment’s lingered gaze, a smile from Ignis, and the chancellor straightened. “I’m certain they will. I was more pondering upon the world beyond.”

It was an innocuous enough statement. Why did it feel not so? “Beyond…?” he echoed, and carefully hid his concern into his cup of coffee.

“Why, beyond the prophecy, of course!” Ardyn leaned over, plopping his hat onto Ignis’s head. Ignis only just swallowed back his groan of discontent over the mussed hair and early bedhead he’d have for it. “What happens _afterwards,_ after we teach these terrible little gods their lesson. I, for one, am _dying_ to find out.”

“Yes,” Ignis said dryly, pushing the brim out of his eyes with a singular finger. “I imagine we’ll all be in for our just deserts afterwards.”

Ardyn left the hat, and plucked Ignis’s glasses from his nose instead. “I like just deserts. They’re so very fun, don’t you think?” he asked, and leaned in to kiss him.

“They’re something,” Ignis acquiesced, when Ardyn had pulled away. “An even trade, anyway, for stopping this prophecy and healing the scourge they left go unchecked. I suppose if we’re ostracized for it, it is a price we have to pay. Righting the wrongs.”

Ardyn pulled back a millimeter more, looking at him. Ignis tilted his head in silent inquiry, and the chancellor hummed. “You truly _would_ give your life to end this prophecy.”

“Whatever the cost,” he said shortly. It was his solemn oath to protect Noctis– he had promised Regis, as well as promised himself _and_ Noct to do what it took. Very little else mattered.

If he could grant Ardyn peace from whatever transgressions the gods had wronged him with as well, then he truly believed it was well worth the price they would pay.

And speaking of Ardyn, he was _looking_ at him again, a gaze Ignis couldn’t begin to decipher. There were so many secrets. So many things Ardyn had never deemed important enough to share and things that had to have been personal enough that Ignis never pressed him on. But he thought there was something like impressed admiration in amber eyes– or perhaps, Ardyn was merely toying with him as was his favorite past time.

He leaned in, and Ignis anticipated the kiss. It was a surprise when Ardyn’s lips brushed against his eyelids instead, first the one and then the other. Embarrassment touched the tips of his ears, and he nearly felt lightheaded as the chancellor pulled away.

“To the future, then, Ignis,” Ardyn said brightly, taking his hat before turning towards the tent. “It starts with a good night’s sleep! The city on the sea awaits come morning!”

Ignis was left by himself, flushed and miffed. He ran his fingers through his hair, turned back to the fire. It had nearly gone out.

“… to the future indeed,” he murmured.

**Author's Note:**

> a commission for Eva!! thanks for commissioning me friendo ily <3
> 
> eyes emoji I always feel equal parts dirty and intrigued writing Ardnis... manipulative relationships are interesting to explore... but then like is this considered manipulative... because Ardyn's still a condescending asshole and still using them but not... to the extent he was in the game...? strokes chin anyway knowing me and Eva both like the same thing I couldn't help but slide a tiny unrequited Ignoct in between the lines as well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> title by fob ofc


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